Experimental investigation of the solar still with the diverse absorber plate configurations using energy storing materials

Abstract

Solar distillation is an economical and nature-friendly method used for the product of fresh water from the (mixing of salt water and fresh water) brackish water. Solar still performance depends mainly on the absorber plate conditions. Since all the solar radiation is mainly absorbed by the basin plate and the water present in the basin. In this experimental work, the performance of the basin plate is enhanced by using diverse basin plate configurations with energy storing materials like mild steel, black gravel, pebbles, sand, and cast iron. The basin plates and the energy storing materials increase the evaporation area and it will store the high heat during the sunshine hours and emitted the stored energy during the off shine hours to the system enhances the still productivity in the less solar radiations too. Here, the comparison has been made between the energy storing materials with flat absorber plate to the trapezoidal and the pin fin absorber plate with similar conditions. Through this experimentation process, we could conclude that trapezoidal basin plate with varied energy storing materials plays a predominant role in the production of distilled water than the flat and pin fin basin plates. On the other hand, black gravel gives good productive results compared to other energy storing materials used in this experiment for all basin plates. This will show the fulfilment of the basin plate and the productivity could be enhanced with different configurations of basin plates as well as incorporation of different energy repository materials.